Payal Kapadia, Neeraj Churi, Subhadra Mahajan Among Talent Behind SASO, IFFSA-Backed South Asian Toronto Market Projects (EXCLUSIVE)

The South Asian Screen Office of Canada and IFFSA Toronto, in collaboration with Storiculture, have selected eight South Asian feature film projects for a new pathway to financiers and industry partners at the Toronto Film Festival‘s inugural market, under an initiative called South Asian Screen Futures.

The slate includes talent tied to recent Sundance, Cannes and Toronto honors, among them “All We Imagine as Light” director Payal Kapadia, “Cactus Pears” producer Neeraj Churi and “Second Chance” writer-director Subhadra Mahajan.

The lineup includes six single-country projects from Canada and India, plus one additional entry co-produced across Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Canada.

“A Varnam in Silence” (Canada, India) is written and directed by Kalainithan Kalaichelvan, produced by Shaista Roshan and Alison Almeida. The film follows a woman who loses her voice after her mother’s funeral and her family’s belief that it was stolen. Kalaichelvan’s short “Karupy,” about a Tamil matriarch who announces plans to end her life at her own birthday party, premiered at Toronto in 2025 and was nominated for best live action short drama at the 14th Canadian Screen Awards. Roshan produced that short as well as “Unbraided,” below, while Almeida is currently producing “The Temple,” directed by Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis, and has associate-produced titles including Reza Dahya’s “Boxcutter” and Durga Chew-Bose’s “Bonjour Tristesse.”

“Moh” (India), from writer-director Subhadra Mahajan, follows an Indian widow and her late husband’s lover as a shared trip reshapes their bond. Mahajan’s feature debut “Second Chance” premiered in competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s Proxima section in 2024 and traveled to more than 40 festivals, including Busan and AFI Fest, before a 2025 Indian theatrical release. She previously co-wrote Pan Nalin’s “Angry Indian Goddesses,” which premiered at Toronto, and served as second unit director on “Last Film Show,” India’s 2023 Oscar submission.

“Pink City Skies” (Canada), directed by Maya Bastian and produced by Leslie Hope and Tina Vacalopoulos for Parallila Pictures, centers on a teenager who leaves home after being discovered with his boyfriend. Bastian’s short “Tigress,” backed by the Netflix/CFC Calling Card Accelerator, screened at Reel Asian and Reykjavik and was nominated for a Canadian Cinema Editors award. Hope, a Nova Scotia-born actress known for playing Teri Bauer on “24,” has directed television episodes including “Snowpiercer” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and produced the 2019 feature “Lie Exposed.”

“A Suitable Wife for Her Husband” (Canada), written and produced by Avi Grewal and Sunny Gill, follows an Afghan-Canadian salon owner secretly seeking a second wife for her husband.

“Soma Helang” (India), co-written and co-directed by Shubham Negi and Sourav Yadav and produced by Neeraj Churi and Beesham A. Seecharan, follows a woman working to hold her polyandrous Himalayan family together after a hailstorm destroys their harvest. Negi’s short “Hills Don’t Dance Alone” won a Netflix TakeTen grant and premiered at BFI Flare, while Yadav’s short “Malwa Khushan” won the Kashish QDrishti Grant and screened at the BAFTA-qualifying Iris Prize. Churi produced “Cactus Pears” (Sabar Bonda), which became the first Indian fiction feature to win the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at Sundance in 2025 and opened in U.K. and Ireland cinemas in June this year. Seecharan’s credits include co-executive producing the PGA-nominated “Mediha” and the BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated “Beyond Utopia.”

“Lefty” (Canada) comes from writer-producer Seth Mohan and director-producer Esther Caszo, and follows a young man finding recovery from anxiety and addiction through cricket.

“Unbraided” (Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Canada), written and directed by Razan Alsoghayer and produced by Shaista Roshan, tracks two childhood friends navigating a changing Saudi Arabia. Alsoghayer, who trained at La Femis in Paris and the British Film Institute, has screened short films at the Red Sea International Film Festival; her short “A Breath” was nominated for best student film at the 2020 Saudi Film Festival. Roshan’s other producing credits include “Karupy” and “Queen Mother,” and she is a 2026 participant in the Red Sea Feature Films Program.

“Swarnapuchhri” (India), from writer-director Ritwik Goswami and producer Nidhi Girish Salian, follows a mother’s search for answers after her son vanishes amid protests against a nuclear power plant. Goswami’s screenplay won the West Meets East Screenplay Lab at the Dhaka International Film Festival. Salian, a former lawyer who was part of Vice India’s founding team, oversaw Prime Video’s GLAAD-nominated “Rainbow Rishta” as creative director at VICE Studios Asia-Pacific. Payal Kapadia serves as executive producer; her fiction feature debut “All We Imagine as Light” won the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for best director and best foreign language film at the 2025 Golden Globes, while her documentary “A Night of Knowing Nothing” won the Golden Eye at Cannes in 2021.

Screen Futures links the projects to sales agents, distributors and other prospective partners rather than functioning as a lab or mentorship program. Organizers describe it as project-first, tailoring outreach to the specific opportunities available to each film.

The push forms part of a wider Canada–South Asia Screen Corridor, an effort organizers say will help stories and talent move more freely between Canada, South Asia and other international markets.